NHRL Event Rules

NHRL Combat Area

While similar to other event rules, NHRL tends to be more accepting of exotic and high powered weapons. Our goal is to provide fun, exciting fights and a fair playing field. The sprit of the rules is what is more important than fighting to get to the letter of the law. Good sportsmanship is always required.

Information regarding violation of these rules and other important information can be found on the Safety page.

All competitors must agree to the Participant Agreement.

Bot Design Rules and Limits

We have a new ruleset for bot design that takes effect starting at our May 2022 event. The following rules apply until then.

Weight Class Specific Rules

• 3lb
• 12lb
• 12lb Sportsman
• 30lb

Special Rules for Rocket Motors & Flames

Bots that use weapons such as rocket motors, or weapons that include the use of a flame, must abide by additional rules. See the sections on Fire and Flame-Based Weapons and Rocket Motors on the Safety Page.

20 Minute Ready Rule

All robots are guaranteed a minimum of 20 minutes between fights. When there are many bots in event the time between matches may be up to an hour or two between your robots last match and its next match. As the number of robots dwindles the time between your robots last match and next will get shorter. The minimum time it can be is 20 minutes. This time is per bot, not per builder. If you are entering multiple bots it is on you to manage your time. Robots that are not ready will forfeit their matches.

Judging

All fights are observed by a team of 3 judges who are typically ex-competitors and previous bot builders. In the event that a fight lasts the entire 3 minutes (or 3.5 minutes for encore), the match decision goes to the judges. Directly after a match has concluded the judges will enter their scores for how each robot performed during their fight. Once this is done this score will be displayed for all to see and we may invite the judges to discuss the reasons behind their scores.

Judges decisions are final.

Matches will be judged across 3 categories of equal weight, with each category having 5 points to be distributed to the competitors;

• Control - How controllable this robot in how it translates across arena and in how it attacks
• Aggression - How much does this robot act as the aggressor and dominate the match flow
• Damage - How much damage does this bot do its competitor.

Norwalk Havoc Judging Criteria

Category	Definition	Breakdown Guidelines	Notes
Aggression	How much does a robot act as the aggressor and dominate the match flow. Aggression scoring will be based on the relative amount of time each robot spends attacking the other and dictating the flow of the fight. The primary means of scoring points in this category involves attempting to attack the opponent in a controlled manner, whether or not the attack is successful. Attacks using the active weapon are considered more valuable than attacks using passive weapons like ramming.	5-0: The bot dictated the match flow for the entirety or majority of the fight, and was responsible for the vast majority of attacks. 4-1: The bot dictated the match flow for a significant portion of the fight and/or was responsible for a significant majority of attacks. 3-2: The bot dictated match flow for more than half of the time and/or was responsible for more than half of attacks	Attacks do not have to cause damage to count for aggression points. Aggression requires some component of motion, sitting and waiting for an opponent to run into your weapon is not aggression. Robots cannot "lose" aggression, aggression score can only be gained.
Control	How controllable a robot is in how it translates across the arena and in how it attacks. Control scoring will be based on how effectively a robot is able to execute its desired actions. This can include but is not limited to the ability to move to a desired/advantageous location in the arena, the ability to keep a certain face/side towards the opponent, having time to spin a weapon to speed before attacking/being attacked, being able to put the opponent in a non-ideal position/orientation, positioning the bot in such a way that the opponent attacks at a disadvantage, etc. Actions that count against control scoring can include but are not limited to self-damage, such as from hitting the walls of the arena or a non-optimal part of the opponent, and requiring the assistance of the house bot.	5-0: The bot was able to execute most or all intended actions and maintain an ideal position while the opponent was put in severe disadvantageous positions for most of the fight. 4-1: The bot was able to execute most action as intended and/or put the opponent in a disadvantageous position for the majority of the fight. 3-2: The bot was able to execute a significant number of actions as intended or the opponent was put in a disadvantageous position for a significant amount of the fight	Examples of non-ideal positions/orientations include flipping the robot (assuming that the flipped orientation makes it less effective), immobilizing or stalling and opponent's weapon, and cornering a bot that would otherwise rely on mobility. Entanglement and jamming are not considered control. The level of control expected will vary from bot to bot, so this is not an absolute measurement, but rather a comparison between what the driver would want to happen and what actually happens.
Damage	How much damage this bot does to its competitor. Damage scoring will be based on the relative amount of damage dealt by each robot. The primary means of scoring points in this category involves doing non-cosmetic damage to the opposing robot. The severity of the damage done by each robot will be considered by the judges and used to determine the score. Loss of function due to the opponent is most valuable followed by decreased function, decreased defensibility or structure, and cosmetic damage.	5-0: One bot inflicted most or all of the damage in the fight, any damage received was cosmetic. 4-1: One bot inflicted the vast majority of the damage and/or only received minor or cosmetic damage. 3-2: One bot inflicted the majority of the damage	Only damage caused by the robot can be scored, self-damage or damage from the house bot do not count. Jamming or entanglement does not constitute damage.

Modular Bots

Modular bots are robots that can change offensive or defensive features depending on who they up against in the tournament. Repairs and replacing broken components of your robot don't count as a modular robot. If you are changing less than 10% of your robot weight and none of it is powered, it’s not considered a modular robot! Like all other bots you still need to bring it to the green room in its final ready state.

• No more than 50% of the entry weight (this includes all weight bonuses) budget can change.
• All versions of the modular robot must pass safety before being put in the ring.
• If you are taking advantage of a weight bonus all versions of your module configuration must also be able to earn that weight bonus.
• If you bring spare robots your modules must be interchangeable between spares.
• You can only bring entries you intend to fight into the green room. Swapping of modules or bots at the cage is not allowed.

Spare Robots

Bringing exact duplicate copies of your robot is allowed. In order to count as the same robot spares must be as close to exact copies as possible. This is a common way many competitors speed up repairs. All copies must pass safety before competing. If you are bringing multiple robots in a modular configuration you should be able to demonstrate the modules could be swapped between robots at any time. If you can't, then it doesn't qualify as the same robot.

Spare Batteries

Bringing Spare Batteries is HIGHLY encouraged. Bots get a minimum of 20 minutes in between matches for repair and recharge. Rarely is this enough time to recharge a fully dead battery. Bringing spare batteries is highly recommended! If you let the organizers know your battery size and connector type one week in advance (robot@nhrl.io), we will gladly provide you with a spare battery for your bot for free. NHRL has a strong preference for XT style connectors XT90/60/30s.

General Fight Rules

Duration	3 Minutes or 3.5 minutes if an encore is called for by the officials.
Knock Out	Any robot unable to show controlled locomotion after 10 seconds is considered disabled and will be considered a knock out.
Tap Out	Any competitor can forfeit the match at any time by pressing the large red button on their button box. This is considered a tap out, and counted as a loss. The other competitor must stop attacking immediately; continuing to attack after tap out will be viewed as unsportsmanlike.
Encore	If a match is particularly exciting officials may poll the audience in the final minute and decide to add an Encore extending the match by 30 seconds. Only one Encore can happen in any single match.
Hazard	If officials deem a robot to be a hazard to the crowd or a robot is doing sustained damage to the arena, the judges may prematurely end the match at any time. Purposefully destroying the arena may result in a forced forfeit of the match.
House Robots	The house robots serve as an in ring camera, and referee that can sometimes unstick and disentangle bots. House robots will unstick stuck robots each once per match. If stuck a second time the robot must unstick itself or it will lose if unable to show controlled motion.
Safety	Officials reserve the right to disqualify any competitor for failing to follow basic safety. All robots with a kintetic weapon should have a weapon lock. The lock should not be removed until both bots are in the arena and the doors are about to close.
Sportsmanship	Officials reserve the right to KO or Disqualify any bot or team for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Final Decisions	All judges decisions are final and not subject to review.
Be Ready	Only 20 minutes of pit time is guaranteed between matches. This usually only comes into play when there are few robots remaining in the bracket. Early on time between matches can be an hour or more.

Pausing the Matches for Unsticks

If two bots are locked together, we may pause the match to perform a manual unstick. These unsticks are at the cage manager/referee's discretion. We may ask that weapon locks be inserted into the bots before we do the unstick.

Here are the criteria we apply in order to decide whether to pause a match for an unstick:

1. The bots have been intertwined for more than 10 seconds.
2. The stick is not a purposeful move (i.e. one bot isn't pinning the other).
3. The stick cannot be rectified by the house bot.
4. The stick stops the fight for at least one competitor. For instance, if 2 bots were stuck together in such a way that they could both still hit each other and still move somewhat, it may continue on. If a competitor can't win points anymore, then it is considered a stick.
5. There is some amount of time left in the fight. If the bots get stuck together 4 seconds from the end of the match, we'll just let it run, for example.

Spirit of the Rules

More important than winning or any prize is that the events are fun and enjoyable for all. Short of the weight rule, the rules exist to set the sprit more than a specific worded law. AKA Don't be a lawyer about it. We have a bias to fight robots that show up. If you build something new that you think plays to the edge of rules, show up and tell us why it should be allowed. Odds are we will let you fight, we love new creative ideas.

If you want to speak to an official about potential new bot designs that you feel may be on the edge of the rules, you can contact staff by emailing robot@nhrl.io.

Pushing the Rules

These rules describe the absolute limits of what can be done. There is much that is allowed at NHRL that might not be at other events. We actively encourage competitors to think creatively and imagine new robot designs. The following are examples of things are are perfectly legal within the NHRL rules

You are ALLOWED to do this at NHRL

• Robots that use fire or heat as weapon
• Robots powered by an internal combustion engine
• Robots that use compressed gasses
• Robots that are made of fabrics or soft bodies
  • It is okay to use materials which may entangle spinning weapons.
  • Materials must not be used solely as an entanglement device.
• Robots that will keep fighting even if their batteries are on fire
• Robots that are crusher robots
• Robots that fly or hover